Family: Bermingham/Birmingham
(Baron Athenry, Earl of Louth)

Family name:

Bermingham/Birmingham

Family title:

Baron Athenry, Earl of Louth

Description:

The spelling of this name varies in different records. Generally the name is spelt with an 'e' with reference to the Barons Athenry and Earl of Louth. The townland is Birmingham Demesne although the house is spelt 'Bermingham'.

Estates:

Ruttledge (Barbersfort)
- A county Galway estate in the parish of Killererin, barony of Clare, purchased by Robert Ruttledge from the Berminghams in July 1816 for £14,500. It passed at his death in 1833 to his stepson, David Watson Ruttledge, along with other Ruttledge lands in county Mayo. David W.Ruttledge's county Mayo estate included lands in the parishes of Kilcommon in the barony of Kilmaine, Kilconduff in the barony of Gallen and Kilvine in the barony of Clanmorris. The agent for his county Mayo property was Thomas Walsh. In 1876 he owned 4,329 acres in county Mayo and 2,059 acres in county Galway. David Watson Ruttledge died in 1890 and, following a court case, his estates reverted to Thomas Henry Bruen Ruttledge of the Bloomfield family.

Bodkin (Kilcloony)
- The Kilcloony estate, parish of Tuam, barony of Dunmore, county Galway, was granted to Edward Bodkin by Francis Bermingham, 21st Baron Athenry and James Daly in 1759. The Bodkin estate included lands in the parishes of Dunmore, Tuam and Liskeevy. The family had close links with Galway city, where they owned Rahoon House. The Bodkin's property in the town of Galway was advertised for sale in 1850. An 18th century member of the family was Valentine Bodkin, Warden of Galway. John J. Bodkin was one of the principal lessors in the parish of Fohanagh, barony of Kilconnell, at the time of Griffith's Valuation. His property in that area included a steward's house valued at £3 and 600 acres which were leased to Thomas O'Connor. John J. Bodkin was a Member of Parliament for county Galway from 1835 to 1847. In the 1870s his son, John Bodkin, owned 2,312 acres in county Galway. The Kilcloony estate was bought by the Irish Land Purchase and Settlement Company in 1884 for £43,000. Mohr writes that this was the only purchase of the company. Charles Stewart Parnell was its Chairman. Thomas Bodkin became Director of the National Gallery in the mid 20th century.
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Trotter (Kilquain)
- Clifford Trotter acquired parts of the Quansbury and Bermingham estate by his marriage to Mary, daughter of William St Lawrence, 2nd Earl of Howth and his first wife Mary. The latter was a daughter of Thomas Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth, and his wife Mary Daly of Quansbury. An estate of over 700 acres, owned by Clifford Trotter, known as Quansbury, in the barony of Longford, was offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates court in March 1851. Birmingham Demesne, barony of Dunmore, county Galway and lands in the barony of Garrycastle in King's County were also included in the sale. Birmingham Demesne was bought by John Irwin Dennis, who had been leasing it from Charles Trotter since 1838. Clifford Trotter is recorded as one of the principal lessors in the parish of Kilquain, barony of Longford, county Galway, at the time of Griffith's Valuation, 1856. In the 1870s William C. Bermingham Ruthven, grandson of Clifford Trotter, owned 939 acres in county Galway. He offered some of this property for sale in the Land Judges' Court in July 1889. However, the Irish Times reported in November 1890 that the sale was adjourned due to absence of bidding.

Burke (Keeloges)
- The Burkes of Keeloges were a junior branch of the Burkes of Glinsk, county Galway. William Burke of Keeloges married Margaret Coleman and had two sons. Their eldest son Richard of Keeloges had a son, William Burke of Knocknagur, part of Kilcreevanty, parish of Kilbennan, who held land in the parish of Claregalway, barony of Clare, at the time of Griffith's Valuation. Thomas H. Burke, Under-secretary of State, murdered in the Phoenix Park in 1882, was a member of this family. Major William Burke, the second son of William and Margaret Burke, acquired part of the Bermingham and Quansbury estates by his marriage to Matilda, daughter of William St Lawrence, 2nd Earl of Howth and his first wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth and his wife Mary Daly of Quansbury. The Quansbury and Bermingham estates of William Burke, in the baronies of Longford and Dunmore, county Galway, were offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates Court in November 1850. This property included Quansbury Lodge, in the townland of Stowlin, barony of Longford. The Bermingham estate of William Burke was in the possession of Edward Blake, Matthew Carney and Patrick McCormack at the time of Griffith's Valuation. The Kirwans of Tuam were land agents for Sir Thomas Burke's estate at Kilcreevanty, Knocknagur, Knockdoe and Lehid in the first decade of the 20th century.

Richards (Ballymoe)
- The Richards family owned an estate in the parishes of Kilcroan and Kilbegnet, barony of Ballymoe and in the parish of Tuam, barony of Dunmore, county Galway, in the mid 19th century. In 1814 the Reverend Solomon Richards married Elizabeth Sewell of Athenry, who was connected to the Beresford and Bermingham families. By the 1870s the representatives of Solomon Richards owned 2,544 acres in the county.

Bermingham/Birmingham
- Edward Bermingham, Lord Athenry, was granted over 5,000 acres, mainly in the barony of Dunmore, county Galway, by patent dated 16 Sept 1680 while Remigius Bermingham was granted overe 5,200 acres in county Mayo in 1681. There are records relating to the Bermingham family in the late 17th and early 18th century in the Westport Estate Papers. The descendants of Lord Athenry sold the Kilcloony estate to the Bodkins in 1759 and the Barbersfort estate to the Ruttledges in 1816. Thomas Bermingham, 22nd Lord Athenry and a Member of Parliament for county Galway, was created earl of Louth in April 1759. By his second marriage to Margaret Daly of Quansbury he left as his co heiresses three daughters, who married Thomas B.H. Sewell, William St Lawrence, 2nd Earl of Howth and Joseph Henry Blake of Ardfry. By the 1880s the family's main estates were in county Louth where they owned over 3,500 acres.

Dennis (Bermingham House)
- In the 1830s John Irwin Dennis leased Bermingham House and estate from the Trotter family and bought the property in 1851 in the Encumbered Estates' Court. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the estate of John Irwin Dennis was situated in the parishes of Dunmore and Tuam, barony of Dunmore, county Galway. John Irwin Dennis left his Bermingham estate to his nephew John Dennis, a remarkable horseman and huntsman. Although located in the townland of Birmingham Demesne, the house and estate appear to be generally referred to as 'Bermingham'.

Daly (Quainsborough/Quansbury)
- Peter Daly of Quansbury was the fourth son of Denis Daly of Carrownakelly, county Galway, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas at the end of the 17th century. He purchased the Quansbury estate in 1722 from the Earl of Clanricarde. He extended his estate a few years later when he bought some of the estate of the Burkes of Glinsk in north county Galway. Peter Daly married Elizabeth Blake of Ardfry and they had 3 daughters. Margaret, the youngest, married as his second wife Thomas Bermingham 1st Earl of Louth. By this marriage Quansbury Lodge and much of the Quansbury estate passed into the possession of the descendants of the Earl of Louth's daughters.

Sewell
- Thomas Bermingham Daly Henry Sewell was a son of Elizabeth Bermingham and Thomas Bailey Heath Sewell and grandson of Thomas Bermingham 1st Earl of Louth and Baron Athenry. His claim to the baronetcy of Athenry failed in 1800. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the Sewell estate was one of the principal lessors in the parish of Athenry and the representatives of Colonel Sewell also held land in the parishes of Clonbern, barony of Ballymoe and Dunmore, barony of Dunmore. Thomas Sewell's had 4 daughters who married Sir William Edward Leeson (who held 710 acres in county Galway and 230 acres in county Roscommon in the 1870s), General Marcus Beresford (one of their daughters married George Brydges Rodney), George Drummond Earl of Perth and Melfort and the Reverend Solomon Richards, whose representatives held 2,544 acres in county Galway in the 1870s.
http://www.sole.org.uk/sirthom.htm